Schroeder raises the bar with new valve
Schroeder Valves is offering a new type of valve for pressures from 140 to 250 bar - the Schroeder Intermediate Pressure Valve (SIP).
This series is ideal in systems with frequent operation in the minimum flow range.
It will especially be in use with boiler feed water circuits in gas and steam combined cycle power plants (CCPP) for the protection of centrifugal pumps. In fact, initial projects in pulp mills and other power plants are already being implemented.
In the past decade, the operating mode of power plants has changed considerably.
Historically, process operation was almost exclusively carried out close to the nominal load point of the plants; an area in which the bypass of the minimum flow valve is closed.
Now, cases are increasing rapidly with significantly varying load conditions – down to the single-digit percentage range of the nominal load – which then have to be compensated.
This applies particularly to combined cycle power plants and is also due to the increasing use of renewable energies.
Previously, it was difficult to prevent cavitation during regular operation and increasingly difficult when operating just below the minimum flow rate in the critical range.
Now, the SIP will be able to operate in this range, even in the area of the switch point hysteresis.
The technical innovations that make the valve unique are found in the main direction of the process medium and in the design of the bypass or piston.
In the main process direction, the volume flow-controlled cone utilises a special design.
In the bypass, the SIP controls the bypass with a multi-stage piston, which enables a defined multi-stage pressure reduction at all flow rates and ensures cavitation-free operation at all times.
The piston of the SIP is actuated directly by the plug via a lever. The actuating forces are reduced enough by pressure compensation that a supporting pilot system is not required.
These innovations provide the unit with optimum protection against wear and cavitation over the entire operating range from 0% to 100% flows. Even if wear does occur over extended time, the design of the bypass ensures full functional operation of the valve.
The design of the SIP does not require a back-pressure regulator in the bypass pipe following the valve. As an added feature, the bypass of the SIP has an integrated non-return function eliminating additional bypass check valve requirements.
For more than 60 years Schroeder Valves has been specialists in pump protection valves.
This series is ideal in systems with frequent operation in the minimum flow range.
It will especially be in use with boiler feed water circuits in gas and steam combined cycle power plants (CCPP) for the protection of centrifugal pumps. In fact, initial projects in pulp mills and other power plants are already being implemented.
In the past decade, the operating mode of power plants has changed considerably.
Historically, process operation was almost exclusively carried out close to the nominal load point of the plants; an area in which the bypass of the minimum flow valve is closed.
Now, cases are increasing rapidly with significantly varying load conditions – down to the single-digit percentage range of the nominal load – which then have to be compensated.
This applies particularly to combined cycle power plants and is also due to the increasing use of renewable energies.
Previously, it was difficult to prevent cavitation during regular operation and increasingly difficult when operating just below the minimum flow rate in the critical range.
Now, the SIP will be able to operate in this range, even in the area of the switch point hysteresis.
The technical innovations that make the valve unique are found in the main direction of the process medium and in the design of the bypass or piston.
In the main process direction, the volume flow-controlled cone utilises a special design.
In the bypass, the SIP controls the bypass with a multi-stage piston, which enables a defined multi-stage pressure reduction at all flow rates and ensures cavitation-free operation at all times.
The piston of the SIP is actuated directly by the plug via a lever. The actuating forces are reduced enough by pressure compensation that a supporting pilot system is not required.
These innovations provide the unit with optimum protection against wear and cavitation over the entire operating range from 0% to 100% flows. Even if wear does occur over extended time, the design of the bypass ensures full functional operation of the valve.
The design of the SIP does not require a back-pressure regulator in the bypass pipe following the valve. As an added feature, the bypass of the SIP has an integrated non-return function eliminating additional bypass check valve requirements.
For more than 60 years Schroeder Valves has been specialists in pump protection valves.
